I’m coming to the end of my first year at my new school, so the annual reflection about what’s worked and what hasn’t is even more essential. One of the biggest battles I have had this year has centred round learning for assessments. Apart from my Year 7s, all my other year groups have clung to the idea of memorising paragraphs. The disastrous legacy of the now defunct GCSE is proving hard to shift. The battle is, of course, most acute in year 10, who have less time than other year groups to make that shift. In their writing exam, despite me saying that the questions would be adapted from…